Maasai

Mokompo Ole Simel is a spiritual and cultural leader, a rainmaker, and chief Laibon among the maasai community living at the edge of the Loita Forest. He hails from a lineage of great Maasai Diviners, His great Laiboni Ancestors were Nelion, Mbatian, Lenana and Senteu. The four high peaks of Mount Kenya known to the Maa as Ol Donyo Kiri, are named after these great Laibonis. Laibni Mokompo is the paramount custodian and ardent protector of the sacred forest, Naimenenkiu.

FGM and early marriage survivor Nancy Milanoi is the CEO of Naretu Maa, a Women’s rights and women-led community based organization that champions for the rights of women and girls to see that women and girls have a safe space where they can make decisions independently and actively participate in every domain freely without any internal and external forces and pressure.

Chief Salaton Ole Ntutu is a Maasai community leader and elder, former warrior, and an entrepreneur. Growing up in a small, rural community in southern Kenya, Salaton never received formal schooling, and cannot read or write, but he believes in the power and perseverance of his culture. He had the foresight and entrepreneurial skills to start the Maji Moto Maasai Cultural Camp, which sits at the foot of the Loita Hills in southern Kenya.

Naomi Kipuri is a graduate of Temple University with a PhD in Anthropology. Naomi is a Maasai from the Kajiado District of Kenya. She speaks Maa (Maasai language), Kiswahili, and with reading knowledge in French. She is the founder of Arid Lands Institute, an organization concerned with promoting sustainable utilization of land, raising awareness on environmental protection and conservation and promoting resource tenure security; advocating for human rights of underserved indigenous communities; raising awareness and support gender equity in access. Now, she is engaged in writing, development consultancy and community involvement.

Samwel Nangiria is a local Masai community leader and the Director of the Ngorongoro NGO Network, which works to protect the land rights of the Masai people, in order to enable their traditional livelihoods and culture. As an Indigenous video practitioner and activist, he uses participatory video to assert Maasai land rights and to decolonise museums.